Spatialite, built on the shoulders of the popular sqlite single-file database, offers a broad feature set of GIS analysis tools. Getting data into a spatialite database is a snap when you’re starting from a shapefile. But what about GPS data. Here’s a few tips on how to upload data from the standard “GPX” format into a spatialite DB.

Tim Sutton’s excellent post from last year gives a recipe for creating a professional looking color relief background map from elevation data, and using only GDAL tools. I’d like to suggest one additional procedure to his step-by-step guide.

The latest stable release of GRASS GIS is 6.4.1. Binaries are already available for several operating systems and distros, but not yet for RHEL 6 or its clones. With the legwork done by the folks at FedoraProject, we can prepare RPMs and install GRASS with little ado also on SL6

The *.dbf single file database format, AKA dBase has been with us now for over 30 years. During this period software giants such as DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) and Aston Tate have risen and fallen, but the lowly dBase format is still hanging on. What gives this standard its tenacity? And how should we deal with DBF files today?

Every photograph is taken somewhere. With the advances in miniature GPS chips, equipping cameras with GPS capability, and implanting location data into the images should be a no-brainer. Several manufacturers have indeed come out with GPS enabled cameras. So , how do you use this new feature to georeference your photos in a FOSS GIS environment?

Windows users who need a full featured GIS platform can benefit from the fruits of open source software and choose Quantum GIS. The latest version, 1.6.0, will be released in a few weeks. And the preview is already available to download and install.

Most people working in GIS aren’t computer technicians. Rather than spend time installing, configuring, or compiling software, they just want to get their maps done, and be home in time for dinner. Here’s a rundown of several of the more popular open source operating systems, focused solely on ease in jump-starting the FOSS GIS stack.

With each new version of FOSS operating systems come new possibilities and new problems. Such is the case with Fedora 13. Fedora developers decided to no longer release statically compiled binaries, only dynamically linked. I won’t pretend to understand all the considerations which lead to this decision. But I’ve found that it floats to the surface some changes when trying to compile the GIS toolkit. So if you want to do the wizardry to setup your freshly installed F13 box as a GIS workstation, then follow the yellow brick road…

In several GIS training seminars I’ve used a collection of spatial data and exercises to demonstrate and practice some basic GIS operations using Quantum GIS. If you’d like to try out one of the popular open source GIS programs, download this zipped file. (100 MB, and compressed with 7zip). It contains a directory of documents, including the list of exercises, a directory of geospatial data, and several presentations. Continue reading GIS Basics with Quantum GIS→